Iran: Madadzadeh voice of political prisoners In prisons throughout Iran.

FormerIranian political prisoner shares a personal with Americans

Democracy appeared poised to sweep Iran after the Islamic Republic’s presidential election in 2009. A sudden surge of political protests for greater democracy gripped the country. Pictures of Iranians in green sashes, scarves and face paint, waving peace signs, flooded international news outlets and social media. The Green Movement called for peaceful demonstrations to fight against the election fraud, which secured a second term for extremist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Despite a harsh crackdown by the regime, millions of Iranians participated, showing their government — and the world — a pro-democracy resistance still exists in Iran.

Two years before the Arab Spring, the spontaneous Green Movement against a corrupt government captured the world’s attention. But the roots of the resistance had been silently spreading in the country for years — and continue to grow to this day.

The year 2009 marked an important moment in the life of Farzad Madadzadeh, too. “I supported PMOI [the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran] in Iran and me and my friend, were arrested in 2009, before the uprising.”

Madadzadeh was not a leader, merely asupporter of PMOI, which is one of the main Iranian resistance movements and a member of the democratic opposition coalition National Council of Resistance ofIran (NCRI). He was in prison for five years in Iran a prisoner in the notorious Evin Prison and Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison in Karaj, northwest of Tehran. he was tortured in prison. The only reason he was being tortured was because he was a PMOI supporter. Madadzadeh said. In 2013, Hassan Rouhani was elected president. “When Rouhani became the president I was still in prison but Outside of Iran, a lot of politicians thought there would be some kind of change, but it was the opposite. Things got worse and it is a mirage to look for a moderate in this regime because it is based on the pillars of terrorism and human rights violations.

Madadzadeh along with other former political prisoners, members of PMOI and international leaders from around the world met in Paris onJuly 9 for a “Free Iran” conference. Personally, Madadzadeh hopes the meeting shed more light on the Iranian resistance movement, especially for Western leaders and U.S. officials.

Many other Americans, including high-ranking retired military leadersvoiced their support